Three In-Person Easter Services

We’ll have three in-person worship services this weekend (with masks and social distancing). The first will be at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 3, 2021. The second and third will be on Sunday, April 4, 2021 at 8:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. It was great having 57 of you for Palm/Passion Sunday and I’m busy finding more seats for Easter.

(On a personal note, I’m also super excited to have my parents coming up on Saturday. We haven’t eaten a meal with them in more than a year, but they’re now fully vaccinated and Jenny and I are too.)

Online Worship for March 28, 2021

If you’re having trouble streaming our worship videos, you may want to simply download the entire video to your device and then play it. You can do so with this link.

Our Vimeo page is: vimeo.com/abilenefirstumc.

If you want to follow along with bulletin you can follow this link or the link in the menu above.

You can make a contribution online via tithe.ly. Other options can be found here.

Previous worship services can be found at vimeo.com/abilenefirstumc.

Readers for Tenebrae

We’ll be doing a Service of Tenebrae this Holy Week. There are 16 scripture readings, the youth have stepped forward and volunteered for eight of them. I just need eight more readers who can record their part beforehand (we only need audio, but video is okay as well). Please let me know if you’re interested. We’ll have an in-person service on Holy Thursday evening (April 1, 2021) at 7:30 p.m. and hopefully we’ll have the video online in time for Good Friday.

Tomorrow is Dickinson County Donate Day

Tomorrow, Friday, March 26, 2021, the Community Foundation of Dickinson County is doubling all donations made to the First UMC Endowment fund (up to $5,000). You can give online at http://www.donatedickinson.com or take a check down to the Community Foundation Office in the old Astra Bank Building.

To be clear: this money goes into the church’s endowment fund which means that we can only draw on the interest. For this reason we’re looking for donations that go above and beyond your regular giving.

Lilies for Easter

We don’t have any official supplier for Easter lilies this year, but if you would like to drop off a lily or have one delivered, that would be more than welcome. Let the church office know at office@abilenefirstumc.org or 785-263-2623 if your lily is in honor or memory of someone.

Upcoming Worship Services

This coming weekend (March 27-28, 2021) we will continue our practice of having worship services on both Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. The following weekend (April 3-4, 2021) we’ll have three services to celebrate Easter. One service will be on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. The other two services will be on Sunday at 8:15 and 10:30 a.m.

Online Worship for March 21, 2021

If you’re having trouble streaming our worship videos, you may want to simply download the entire video to your device and then play it. You can do so with this link.

Our Vimeo page is: vimeo.com/abilenefirstumc.

If you want to follow along with bulletin you can follow this link or the link in the menu above.

You can make a contribution online via tithe.ly. Other options can be found here.

Previous worship services can be found at vimeo.com/abilenefirstumc.

Communion for Easter

I know that despite Covid-19 concerns, many of you have been missing Holy Communion. I’ve just ordered a box of individual communion cups (with bread and juice continued) for Easter Sunday (April 4, 2021). Anyone who wants can pull their mask down long enough to partake.

Conference Worship Guidelines

The Great Plains Annual Conference has shared some guidelines for worship in the midst of the ongoing pandemic. A pdf document of those guidelines is available here. Please note that http://www.covidactnow.org is the recommended place to go to find out our county’s risk level. Please also note the sentence “Continue to follow recommendations from the CDC on wearing masks throughout this process.” That means that we will continue to wear masks for now.

Plenty of Room in the Sanctuary

Last Sunday, after the Worship Service, those present helped me rearrange the designated seats in the sanctuary. We now have room for thirty households in each worship service. Assuming an average of three people in each household, that’s room for roughly ninety people in each service. If the Saturday and Sunday services both get filled up, we’ll simply add another service. There’s plenty of room for you to come back whenever it feels right.